Never Letting Go
by mdgirl18
Summary: Grace Van Pelt felt so betrayed, but at the same moment she has the biggest realization of her life.


Agent Grace van Pelt had seen a lot since she had become a CBI officer. But as she sat on the couch in the cabin never in a million years did she think she'd see this. The man she had grown to love over the past year (or at least thought she loved), Craig O'Laughlin, was the Red John mole.

She couldn't believe she fell for his façade of being part of the FBI and highly trained in combat. She knew better. She was trained to avoid being in situations like these and yet here she was staring at his dead body after he had made an attempt on her life. She couldn't believe that his last words were "I was starting to grow fond of you, truly" and then he tore off the necklace he had given her.

All she could keep thinking about was how well he had laid the trap for her, especially about remembering her father as his football coach. She couldn't believe that that had been used against her and her team for that matter. She couldn't believe she had let him get so close that the entire team had been in danger. At that moment she heard Lisbon yelling at the paramedics that she was fine and it was only a simple gun shot wound and she needed to stay here with her team. Van Pelt laughed in her head and realized how lucky she was to have Lisbon as her boss. She was just happy that the whole team was alive, even Hightower. The same Hightower that had made her breakup with Rigsby, the man she had loved.

Now that she was thinking about him her mind went back to a couple of weeks ago when she was inviting Rigsby to the wedding and he said he couldn't come. She remembered being stunned when he said that he was still in love with her. That had been something she wasn't expecting to hear because she thought he got over her when she went out with that Doctor, whatever her name was. Apparently he had done that for her not to make her feel bad.

She remembered that day over a year and a half ago when she made that difficult decision to end her relationship with him. Nothing had ever been so hard for her to do, but at that time she was thinking about her future and she wanted the job at the CBI to be a part of that. At that time love and a family had been on the backburner, but now she realized how stupid she had been at throwing away true love with Rigsby and she needed to tell him that. She needed him to know how sorry she was for what she had done to him and if she would ever get a second chance with him she wouldn't let it slip away. It was as if the biggest light bulb was going off in her head, she loved Wayne Rigsby and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, if he would have her. Now all she had to do was tell him.

She had to get out of the mountains and find him and tell him this. But she couldn't do that yet because as the thoughts were rushing through her head they heard over the radio that Patrick Jane had been involved in a shooting at a mall. She could hear Lisbon say "Why today of all days?"

As she drove towards the mall, she looked at the passenger seat next to her. O'Laughlin had been sitting there on the way up to the cabin, the thought made her sick and as soon as she would have a chance she was getting the car cleaned to get rid of every trace of that animal. Grace then realized she would probably see Rigsby at the mall and it made here stomach seem to jump twenty feet in the air, something she hadn't felt in a long time.

As she pulled up to the mall there he was standing tall with his white button shirt, loosened tie, and sleeves rolled up, with Cho at his side. She didn't realize how much she had missed Rigsby and couldn't believe she let him go for a job. If he would take her back she definitely wasn't going to let him go.

As she got out of the car Cho saw her and told her straight away, "They aren't allowing any CBI in, the FBI is taking charge of the case and Jane is still inside". All I could say was "Stupid FBI" and Rigsby looked at me and laughed. Then I did something out of character and asked Wayne if we could go somewhere and talk since there wasn't anything for us to do right now. Surprisingly he said yes and said I'll meet you at my place in ten. It was like music to my ears, and I ran to my car cause I couldn't wait to tell him my big news.

When I got to his place his car was already there and before I had the chance to knock he opened the door and let me in. Right away he asked me how I was handling the whole O'Laughlin situation and I knew I had to tell him.

I started to speak but felt so nervous and I couldn't look at him straight in the eye, but I knew I had to get this off of my chest. "At first I was in so much shock and full of embarrassment that I had let something like this happen. I'm trained to prevent things like this from happening and yet I fell for it and let him into my life and the whole teams lives. If it hadn't been for me all of your lives wouldn't have been in danger today.

At the moment Rigsby had heard enough and he took Grace into his arms and just let her cry. He didn't expect to hear what she said next. Grace continued "I was so stupid and left you because I was putting my career first, not love. If I could take it all back I would Wayne, you mean more to me than anything in the world. A couple of weeks ago when you told me you loved me I was in shock and didn't want to believe it. But after today I realized how foolish I was being and I decided that if I ever got you back in my life I wasn't going to let you go because I love you Wayne Rigsby with all my heart and soul. I'm sorry that I hurt you and that it took something like this for me to realize how much I want and need you in my life."

At that second Wayne Rigsby felt as if the wind had ben knocked out of him. He had been waiting for Grace to say this for over a year and a half, and now she finally was. It didn't matter to him that she had been so close to marrying O'Laughlin, because he knew he probably was just as deceiving as Red John, and gotten her to think he was perfect, when in reality he really wasn't. So he mustered up his courage and said to her "It's ok, I don't care about any of that. As long as I get to have you back in my arms, that's all that matters to me right now." Then he kissed her letting all the emotions he'd been holding back the past year and half into the kiss. But then he stopped and asked her, "Are you sure Grace, I don't want us rushing into something or you thinking I'm taking advantage of you when you're vulnerable?"

Grace's heart swelled for the man holding her who still was putting her feelings before any of his even after what she did to him. She said to him "I have never been more sure of anything in my life and I don't want us to waste another minute of dancing around each other, because you're it Wayne and I am never ever going to forget that again!"

Hearing that Rigsby let out a huge sigh of relief and then kissed her again with more heated passion than he had before.

Grace more than happily kissed him back because she had gotten what her heart had truly wanted and she was never going to let go of it.

THE END

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